Target fast fix

Arms triceps dips on a chair

Image: Getty Images

2. Be tri-curious

Biceps may get all the love, but triceps actually make up about 70 per cent of your arm. So giving them extra attention can grow sleeve-busting arm muscles, too. Mathews suggests moves like extensions while standing (French presses) or while lying on a bench (skull crushers).

Image: Getty Images

3. Move those legs

If you’re skipping cardio but still want a big-kilojoule burn from a workout, punish your leg muscles, the largest in the body. Try weighted squats (barbell on shoulders), dead lifts, box jumps, and burpees. Keep the heart rate up – and torch kilojoules – by nixing rests between sets.

4. Sweat before you shed your shirt

Add 11th-hour definition with the previous three exercises, which are as essential to beach prep as slathering on SPF.

Image: Shutterstock

5. Go low

The lower abs – the bottom two of the six- pack – are the weakest muscles in your torso. So work them first, before they become fatigued. Lie flat on your back, hands by your sides, legs raised straight towards the ceiling. While keeping lower back pressed against the floor, slowly lower feet to the ground.

6. But know when to ab-stain

Keep crunches to a minimum. “Too many creates a strength imbalance causing your body to bend forward and shorten the torso,” says personal trainer Harley Pasternak. “It creates postural issues and the illusion of a belly.” He suggests toning the area with planks instead.

Image: Vivek Muthuramalingam

7. Do cardio before breakfast

Semi-intense cardio on an empty stomach is the most efficient way to lose fat, says Mathews, because the body doesn’t have any ready glycogen to burn, so it uses stored fat to get through the workout. However, if you push yourself too hard, you’ll start cannibalising muscle. Keep the cardio easy enough (heart rate under 140) by alternating walking and running or by walking at a steep incline (both can be done on the treadmill). “You don’t want to be huffing and puffing,” says Mathews.

Image: Shutterstock

8. Live hand-to-mouth

Turbocharge your metabolism and burn through body fat by eating five or six meals a day, every couple of hours, that are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

This keeps blood-sugar levels stable and prevents you from getting so famished that you end up stuffing your face with fried chicken or a meat pie and choc milk. “You never want to be hungry, and you never want to be full,” says Mathews.

Got your workout in place? These fat-burning drinks will up the ante on your weight loss programme. Plus, they’re so easy to make, you have to be dumber than a rock to mess it up.

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Image: Instagram/azn_barista

The Detox

Ingredients

250 ml coconut water

1 mango, diced

1 cup fresh spinach

Method

Blend ingredients until smooth. Then clean that crap out of your system.

Image: Instagram/tophatcoffee

The Cleanse

Ingredients

250 ml coconut water

1 mango

½ sliced cucumber

Method

Blend ingredients until smooth. Cool as a cucumber.

Image: Instagram/dahmakan

The 5am Wake-up

Ingredients

250 ml coconut water

1 banana

2 kiwis, peeled

Method

Blend ingredients until smooth. Maybe, invest in a better blender.

Image: Instagram

The Pre-workout

Ingredients

1 banana

1/3 cup rolled oats

2 cups fresh spinach

Method

Blend ingredients with one cup of cold, filtered water. Try adding cinnamon for sweetness, it’s also a great boost for your metabolism.

The Piña Colada

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

2 cups spinach

2 cups diced pineapple

Method

Blend ingredients until smooth. Tastes like a vacation, without the excess calories.

Image: Instagram/pheebsfoods

The Natural High

Ingredients

250 ml unsweetened almond milk

1 banana

1 cup kale

Method

Blend ingredients with ¼ cup of ice until smooth.

Image: Instagram/diana_persad

The Apple-a-Day

Ingredients

1 cup freshly squeezed green apple juice

1 cup kale

2 pears, cored

Method

Blend ingredients until smooth. Keep the doctor away.

Image: Instagram/smarie_bikini

The Post-Yoga

Ingredients

250 ml coconut water

1 banana

1 cup kale

Method

Blend ingredients until smooth. Juice asana may be the only thing you need.

Image: Instagram/alliamoinsieme

The Strengthener

Ingredients

1 cup fresh spinach

1 cup mango

½ cup sweet potato, cooked and cooled in the fridge

Method

Blend with ½ cup of crushed ice. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.

The Energizer

Ingredients

1 cup coconut water

1 cup diced pineapple

1 cup diced cucumber

Method

Blend ingredients with ¼ cup ice. Add a lime for a metabolic boost and also zest.